Sydney - Coogee

Colours Reef

Colours Reef is a wonderful example of Sydney's diverse coastline. The top of the reef starts at 22m then steps all the way down to a 30m sand line, In parts it has a straight drop off to 30m while in other parts is has a more gradual decline to 30m.

The fish life here is a little different to other shallower sites around Sydney , with large Cuttlefish, Big schools of King Fish, Eastern Blue Devil Fish and schools of Seapike just to mention a few

The Colours is a great dive site to see lots of soft corals with a vars array of colours and shaps to explore

As this is one of our deep sites you will need to have an AOW certificate OR have 20 logged open water dives.


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Dee Why Wide

Dee Why Wide is one of Sydneys premier boat dives. It is located approximately 2.4 kilometers off of Curl Curl Beach. The bottom when you enter is 23 metres deep and there is an extensive reef that runs northwest.  You can get down to depths as great as 37 metres in some spots due to the large gullies and cracks in the rocky bottom that are accessible to divers. If you explore these there is a cave you can find around 28 metres. Here eastern blue devilfish and ladder-finned pomfrets reside in abundance.

Another attraction of this dive site is a massive anchor sitting on its side. The flukes of the anchor are easy to identify but the stock has been broken off. As you explore the channels in the rock you will come upon kingfish, leatherjackets, yellowtail, and seapike, perch, bullseyes, cuttlefish, butterfly and black-banded perch, sergeant bakers, red rock cods, and gropers. There is a prolific amount of marine life here.

Swim-throughs, boulders, and overhangs also provide great places to look for more timid fish as well as exciting areas to investigate. Gorgonian sea fans, southern corals, deep sea whips, sponges and zoanthids can be found here. This is an ideal dive site for advanced or deep divers.



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Gordons Bay

Gordons bay is located North of Coogee and offer easy diving in calm conditions. You will find Blur Grouper, Sting rays, Wrasse , Goat Fish and Port Jackson in winter. One of the unique features is the chain which you can follow around the site.

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Long Reef

To find out more please check this link out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q6Gxy7rhYw

These three sites are adjacent to one another and lie just east of Long Reef Point, a five-minute boat ride. The main site is located along a large rock wall and drops to 15 to 20 metres. This huge rock formation has a large swim-through running from east to west of the rock. The western side is always home to masses of fish; bullseyes, roughies, yellowtail, pike and tailor. The boulders themselves are covered in sea tulips, sponges and bryozoans. There were plenty of starfish, large cuttlefish, wobbegongs and Port Jackson sharks. The cathedral (name of massive boulder) comes up to about eight metres and often visibility gets much clearer during winter. Swimming north of the cathedral following the wall you come across large gutters frequented by young grey nurse sharks. Watch for strong currents.


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Magic Point

Magic Point is the southern headland of Maroubra Bay - about 14 km south of Sydney Harbour. It is a significant aggregation area for Grey Nurse sharks.

Despite their fierce appearance, Grey Nurse sharks are not considered to be dangerous to humans.They are a passive species with teeth designed for capturing prey such as fish, squid and crustaceans.

The sharks can usually be found in a cave about 15 metres below the surface. This cave is really a large undercut section of the cliff wall - it is about 15 metres wide and about 5 metres deep at the western end. Once on the bottom, head to the cave and stop about five metres in front of it. The bottom is very silty and the sharks love to lie around and cruise around this little 'patch'. Expect around 8-10 grey nurse sharks. The sharks are accompanied by enormous schools of yellowtail as well as remoras. The sharks are very tolerant of divers but you should not reach out and touch or poke any of these animals. Staying still and calm will often be rewarded with sharks cruising right over your head or very close by. Wild movements and noises are more likely to just frighten them away.

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Manly Bommie

Maximum depth 16 meters, top of the bombie is in 10 meters of water and is located
off the northern end of Manly Beach. Has swim throughs and as you head east it
drops down to 16 meters. Lots of fish found on this drop off and in wintertime you
can expect to see lots of Port Jackson Sharks, Cuttlefish in the winter, Schooling King fish and lots of cool Macro stuff too!




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Old Mans Hat

A truly magical rocky reef dive accessible only by boat. Under the towering curve of Sydney Heads, the rocks jumble into the water and slowly give way to sponge gardens and a sandy kelp bottom.

Suits all levels of experience. The further out you go, the deeper it gets. At Old Man's Hat a depth of around 20-26m can be reached, further to the east it gradually drops to 36-38m. The area is rocky with a few sandy patches. Sponges and soft coral can be found on the rocky bottom.

Expect to see blue groper, cuttlefish, lizard fish, yellow tails, nudibranchs, pygmy leatherjackets, shrimps, ascidians, sponges, sea squirts and all sorts of other temperate marine life.

Source: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~diving/articles/publish.htm

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Shark Point

Located on the north side of Clovelly Bay is shark point, one of the best shore dive sites in Sydney. This site is one of the more difficult shore dives that can be found due to the tricky entrance and exit points diver must cope with off of the rocks. When you go be sure to go with another diver or guide who has been there before and knows what they are doing.

Enter the water from the point and then drop underneath the waves until you reach a depth of approximately 8 metres. The ocean floor drops-off to 13 metres after a brief swim and it is covered in huge boulders where many fish are hiding in nooks and crannies. As you continue south-east you will reach the rock-sand line at around 25 metres. Here there are rocks with lots of sponges and ascidians flourishing on them. In this area you can also expect to see wobbegongs, cuttlefish, bulleyes, roughies, and even blue devilfish. If you go a bit deeper you may encounter pygmy pipehorses but you will need a sharp eye to spot them.

This is a dynamic and exciting shore dive that will merit many visits if you wish to see all it has to offer. Definitely worth a visit!



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The Blocks

Located at the mouth of the harbour north head ? extends for about 700
meters and averages between 6 meters down to 30 meters. This location is renown for
great sponge growth below 12 meters and in the shallower areas big boulders and
swim throughs. You will see lots of leather jacket, blue grouper, giant cuttle fish, and
the occasional big bull ray plus your typical temperate water species and viz averages
around 10 to 12 meters here and can be as good as 25 meters

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The Gap

South Head extends for several kilometres from the South Headland of the Harbour to
the Northern point of Bondi and average depth varies from 6 to 24m and its
dominated by flat boulders, swim throughs, gutters and canyons and all temperate
Sydney marine life can be seen here including weedy sea dragons, blue grouper, rays
sharks, leather jacket, pelagic fish and turtles.
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Wedding Cake Island

About 1 km off of Coogee Beach is a collection of rocks about 150 metres long and 50 metres wide. At high tide one can see these rocks poking out of the sea and as the tide goes down they get more pronounced. This is Wedding Cake Island.

As you descend you will see the reef drop off in shelves at 5m, 8m, 15m, 18m, and the rock sand line is at approximately 22m. The main wall is at the 15m mark and this is where heaps of sea squirts and several small gorgonians make their home. Along the wall you can also find overhangs and caves that provide shelter to the aquatic life.

Wobbegongs can be found here along with lots of other fishlife including yellow-banded seaperch, old wife, snapper, bream, the esteemed blue groper, combfish, six-spined leatherjacket, rainbow runners, kingfish, and schools of luderick that flock to the shallower waters. If you're lucky you may get to see the magnificent eastern blue devil or cuttlefish. There are also many species of nudibranch.

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